Introduction

The age of the earth has been a topic
of debate among Christians over the last two centuries. Several Christian
ministries promote the idea that the earth is less than 10,000 years old,
which they say comes from the Bible. In reality, the Bible makes no claim as
to the age of the earth, although it does establish a minimum age. This page
examines some of the history of the controversy—what the Bible actually
says and does not say—and the scientific evidence surrounding the age of
the earth.

Age of the earth according to the Bible

The following is a summary of the biblical evidence presented on this
website regarding the age of the earth. For more detailed explanations
of each topic, please click on the associated link.

History of the age of the earth

As indicated earlier, the Bible does not fix the age of the
earth, contrary to the claims of Answers in Genesis.1 Historically, their
claim comes from the work of James Ussher, Bishop in the Church of
Ireland, from 1625 to 1656. Archbishop Ussher took the genealogies of Genesis,
assuming they were complete, and calculated all the years to arrive at a
date for the creation of the earth on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C.2 Of course, even
assuming the method was valid, such an exact date is not possible from
the genealogies of the Bible (Ussher assumed all the years the
patriarchs lived were exactly 365.25 days long and that they all died
the day before their next birthday). There are a number of other assumptions implicit
in the calculation. The first, and foremost, assumption is that the
genealogies of Genesis are complete, from father to son throughout the
entire course of human existence. The second assumption is that the
Genesis creation "days" were exactly 24-hours in length. It turns out
that both assumptions are false.

Incomplete genealogies

Although Archbishop Ussher assumed the Genesis genealogies were
complete, it is clear from the rest of the Bible that those genealogies
were telescoped (some names were left out for the sake of brevity),
which is common in biblical genealogies but rare in modern genealogies.
Similarly, the key genealogical terms (such as "son" and "father") have
much broader meanings in Hebrew than their corresponding English words.
The Hebrew word translated "son" can also have the meaning of
"grandson," "great grandson," "descendant," etc.3 Likewise, the Hebrew
word translated "father" can mean "grandfather," "great grandfather,"
"ancestor,"
etc.4 An accurate understanding of biblical genealogies is difficult, yet it
is important for the understanding of Scripture. Having a proper
understanding of biblical genealogies is a prerequisite to attempting to
address the Genesis genealogies. By cross referencing the biblical
genealogies with other events dated in the Bible, one can find instances
where numerous genealogies were telescoped, resulting in the exclusion
of numerous generations of individuals. When examining individual
genealogies, one can find examples where individuals are excluded or
added to the lists found in Genesis. The fact that the genealogies of
the Bible are given symmetrically (where the numbers of generations in
each group are identical) lends credence to the argument that they are
representative of generations found throughout human history. More
information about the biblical genealogies can be found in our article, The Genesis
Genealogies: Are They Complete?

Length of creation days

Most people who read English translations of the Bible assume
that the English words have the same meaning as the original languages
in which the Bible was written (Hebrew and Aramaic for the Old
Testament, and Greek for the New Testament). In fact, the original
biblical languages contained many fewer words than modern English, which
means that the words in those languages had more different meanings. In
the Genesis 1 creation account, each "day" ends as "evening and morning
'n' day,"5 where "n" is the day's number.
Although many Christians claim this makes the days exactly 24-hours in
length, the Hebrew word translated "day" in
English actually has three literal translations; the daylight portion of
a 24-hour day, a 24-hour day, and a long, unspecified period of time (as
in "day of the dinosaurs").6 The
Hebrew word translated "evening" also means "sunset," "night" or "ending of the
day." The Hebrew word translated "morning" also means "sunrise," "coming of
light," "beginning of the day," or "dawning," with possible metaphoric
usage.7 Our English expression: "The
dawning of an age" serves to illustrate this point. The intended meaning of the word should be
determined from the context. More information and examples can be found
in our article Biblical Evidence for Long
Creation Days.

24-hour days?

Although some Christians claim the days of creation are exactly
24-hours in length, it is apparent from the literal reading of the
Genesis 1 text that this is not so. Two days stand out, in
particular. On the third day, God created the plants. The particulars
are important, so let's look at what Genesis 1 says:

Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed,
and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the
earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants
yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them,
after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)

The interesting part of the account is that God did not create the plants in
the manner we might assume He did. Instead of creating a world filled with full-grown plants, God actually created seeds and planted those. We understand this
from the word "sprout,"8 which refers to God allowing the earth to produce plants through germination
(sprouting). The Hebrew word dasha
tells us that God used processes identical to what we see on the earth
today. Plants spouted, grew to maturity, and produced seeds. Several kinds of
plants are described. The Hebrew word deshe9
refers primarily to grasses; the word eseb10
refers primarily to herbs and the words peri11ets12 refer to fruit trees. Some Christians
claim that God could have sped up the process so that it all this
sprouting and growing happened within a period of 24-hours. However, the
text clearly states that the land produced the vegetation and
trees. Conjecture about what God could have done to speed up the process
have no biblical support and directly contradict what the text
actually says. Since fruit trees take several years to mature and
produce fruit, the third "day" must have been at least several
years long.

The sixth day was also a very busy "day." On the sixth day, God
created the nephesh (soulish) animals, including the wild
animals (carnivores), cattle (herbivores)
and "creeping things" (rodents?) (Genesis 1:25). Then God created Adam,
the first man (Genesis 1:27, 2:7). He placed the man into a special
garden that He had planted (Genesis 2:8). Again, God was playing farmer
by planting the garden and letting it grow (Genesis 2:9). Adam was
placed into the garden "to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15).
We don't know how long Adam worked the garden before God gave him
another assignment. However, it wouldn't have been much "work" if Adam
was there for less than 24 hours. Next, God had Adam give names to "all
the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air" (Genesis 2:19).
The process would have required Adam naming tens of thousands of species
(minimum). Even naming one animal every ten seconds would have taken
Adam several days, at minimum. Then God put Adam to sleep and created Eve
from part of Adam's side (Genesis 2:22-23). Adam's response to Eve's
creation is also telling, since upon seeing Eve for the first time, Adam said
"at last."13 This is not
exactly the response one would have expected from a man who had waited for less than
one day (or else Adam was the most impatient man in the history of humanity).
So, we must conclude that the sixth day was much longer than 24 hours, and
probably took at least several years, based on Adam's response. For more
information, see our article Genesis 1: The
Literal Interpretation of the Creation Account.

The seventh day

Besides the biblical evidence that at least some of the Genesis
"days" are long periods of time, Genesis 2:4 refers to all 6 days of
creation as one day:

This is the account of the heavens and the earth
when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and
heaven. (Genesis 2:4)

In addition, the seventh day of Genesis is not closed:

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and
made. (Genesis 2:3)

In all other days the text says, "there is the evening and the
morning, the n day." In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us to
labor to enter into God's seventh day of rest:

"For He has thus said somewhere concerning the
seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"...
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall
through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:4-11)

By any calculation, God's seventh day of rest from creating has been
at least 6,000 years long, since it continues to today. God's seventh day of rest from creating will
end when He creates the new heavens
and new earth.

Age of humanity

Other than incomplete genealogies, there are other measures of
the age of humanity found in the Bible. First, the Bible says that the
Lord made a covenant and commanded his law to 1,000 generations:

Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a
thousand generations, (1 Chronicles 16:15)

He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He
commanded to a thousand generations, (Psalm 105:8)

but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me
and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:6)

but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me
and keep my commandments. (Deuteronomy 5:10)

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful
God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those
who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Unless those generations are only 6 years long, these verses indicate
that humanity has been around much longer than 6,000 years. In most
instances, a biblical generation is ~40 years long,14
meaning that human beings
have been around for at least 40,000 years.

Another, less accurate way to look at the age of humanity is to
compare an early biblical event with earth's natural history. One
example is the person Peleg, of whom it is said "for in his days the
earth was divided..." (Genesis 10:25) This dividing of the earth was
likely a result of the removal of land bridges at the end of the last
interglacial period, about 12,000 years ago. During this time, seal
levels rose several hundred feet as continental ice sheets melted and
flowed into the oceans. Assuming the biblical genealogies were complete,
we could calculate that Peleg lived ~4,000 years ago. However, since the
dividing of the earth really occurred 12,000 years ago, one can
determine that the genealogies represent only one third of the actual
generations (12,000 ÷ 4,000). This would place the
beginning of humanity at ~24,000 years ago, assuming the missing
genealogies are missing at the same rate throughout human history. Since
it would seem likely that more of the earlier genealogies are missing,
the estimate is likely low, probably being more in line with the biblical 40,000
years.

From a scientific standpoint, I would place the creation of Adam as
the first modern human (Homo sapiens sapiens), corresponding
with the explosion of sophisticated tool making, art, and religious
worship in Europe, about 50,000 years ago.15 I do not believe that Adam
was a Neanderthal, Homo erectus, or other hominid species found in the
fossil record, but a fully modern, spiritual human being.

Summary of biblical evidence

Contrary to the calculation of Archbishop Ussher,
it seems
that the biblical genealogies are telescoped, representing only a small
percentage of the actual human generations. Therefore, the time that
humanity has existed on earth is in the tens of thousands of years
rather than thousands of years. However, humanity was the very last of
God's creations, on the sixth days. The days of creation can be shown to
be longer than ordinary calendar days, with at least two of the days
being years long or longer (in addition to the seventh day, which is a
minimum of thousands of years long). So, although the Bible may give us an
approximate date for the creation of human beings, we can only guess at
how long the other creation "days" are. However, God has given us
another "book" that testifies to His power and creative ability—none
other than the creation itself. The Bible explicitly tells us that God's
creation is a reliable witness for the truth about God's power and
righteousness. The Bible also says that one can see the truth about God
from His creation, so that unbelievers are "without excuse" in denying
God's "eternal power and divine nature."16
So, the Bible says that we can
learn about God from His creation. Let's do that!

Age of the earth according to science

The age of the earth can be
measured by numerous different techniques, most of which provide just a
minimum age. The absolute age of the earth has been most
accurately measured
through radioactive decay of its rocks. Because of plate tectonics
(which recycles the earth's crust) and
the late heavy bombardment, none of the original rock formations appear
on the surface of the earth at this time. So, the oldest known rock formations have
been dated to 4.0-4.2 billion years old.17
However, tiny zircons, some of the
hardest minerals on earth, have survived these catastrophic events and
have been reliably dated to 4.4 billion years old.18
Rocks returned from
the Apollo moon missions,19 along with meteorites derived from Mars20
have
been dated at 4.5 billion years old. Meteorites from the solar system
that have landed on the earth have been dated to 4.56 billion years old,
which establishes the date at which the solar system and all its worlds
were created.

Radioactive decay

There are over 100 elements in the periodic table (right). The
properties of each element are determined by the number of protons and
neutrons in each element's atoms. The atomic number (which defines each
element) is a function of the
number of protons (positively charged), which is exactly balanced by the number of electrons (negatively
charged). The number of neutrons (each consisting of a proton and
electron, being charge-neutral) within each atom is usually about the
same as the number of protons, although some elements can exist in
different forms (called isotopes) based upon different numbers of
neutrons. A fundamental physical law, called the weak nuclear force,
determines the stability of atoms that contain differing numbers of
neutrons. Some isotopes are somewhat or very unstable and decay in a
predictable way and at a
predictable rate. Depending upon the isotope, this decay can occur in
several different ways. One form of radioactive decay consists of a
neutron decaying into a proton and electron, which is ejected from the
nucleus. The atom's atomic number increases by one, so it becomes one
element higher on the periodic table, although its mass remains about
the same. In other forms of radioactive decay, a proton combines with an
electron to form a neutron, resulting in its atomic number decreasing by
one. Still another form of radioactive decay results in the emission of
an alpha particle (two neutrons and two protons), which lowers the
atomic number by 2 and mass by 4. Both the original amount of an element
and its decay product(s) can be measured to determine the age of the
sample.

Isotopes and the age of the earth

The important thing about radioactive decay is that is provides us
with clocks that allow us to determine the ages of various materials on
the earth. The stability of a particular isotope determines its
"half-life," the amount of time required for half of the atoms to decay.
Half-lives of isotopes vary from billions of years (or longer) to fractions of a
second. The existence of certain isotopes on the earth give us a minimum
age for the earth. It is significant that there are over 150 unstable
isotopes, although the vast majority of those do not exist naturally on
the planet. It turns out that every isotope (other than those which are
products of other radioactive decay or are formed today) with a
half-life less than 80 million years do not exist.21 One could make the
claim that maybe God didn't want to create isotopes with "short"
half-lives (other than carbon-14). However, the most compelling answer is that all those
isotopes with short half-lives have completely decayed over the earth's 4.5 billion year
history. An earth that was only tens of thousands of years old
would be expected to contain isotopes with half lives less
than thousands of years long. However, there are none, with the exception
of carbon-14, which is
formed continually in the earth's atmosphere, through the bombardment of
atmospheric nitrogen-14 with cosmic rays. Some young earth creationists
have attempted to get around the radioisotope problem by claiming that
the half-lives of radioactive elements were shorter in the past.
However, since the half-lives of radioisotopes vary over many orders of magnitude,
this would require that God would have had to have changed pre-fall or pre-flood physics
to adjust the decay rates of individual isotopes more or less compared
to others.
Needless to say, creationists who propose such special pleading have
never produced any kind of coherent scientific model for how this
contrived idea might have been accomplished. In addition, the Bible
tells us that the physics of the universe are constant and "fixed,"22
suggesting that such special pleading is incongruent with biblical
theology.

Dating of meteorites

Because of the earth's aggressive tectonic activity, it was
anticipated that dating of the earth's rocks would yield a minimum, but
probably "young" date for the earth. As stated previously, the oldest
rock formations are just over 4.2 billion years old, while the earth's
oldest minerals are 4.4 billion years old. Since the moon has no
measureable tectonics, its oldest rocks date from 4.5 billion years ago.
With the assumption that all the solar system bodies were formed at the
same time,23
scientists have dated meteorites to determine the age of the solar
system. Using different isochron methods, the dates for all these
meteorites fall in the same range—from 4.5-4.6 billion years ago.

Other dating techniques

Radioactivity is not the only means of measuring the age of the
earth, although it does give us the most accurate measure. However,
other techniques allow us to calculate a minimum age for the earth.
Below is a table of these techniques, all of which show the earth is
much older than 6,000 years.

There are sedimentary rock formations on Mars that are over 4
kilometers thick. Such layers would require tens to hundreds of millions
of years of running water to form. In addition there must have been
millions of years for all the water to have disappeared, since Mars is now
extremely dry. (View
pictures from the article)

Evaporites: When bodies of salt water are trapped so that circulation
is limited, evaporation produces precipitation of calcium carbonate, then
calcium sulfate and finally calcium chloride out of the water. Each layer
takes several years to form. The Delaware Basin formation is 1,400 feet thick,
consisting of 200,000 layers, requiring at least 600,000 years to form. The Mediterranean Sea floor is underlain by about 7,000 feet of evaporites, requiring millions of years to form and evaporation of a 60 miles
depth of salt water.

Conclusion

The Bible establishes a minimum date for the creation of human beings
on the sixth "day" of ~50,000 years ago. However, because the Bible
clearly indicates the length of the previous five creation "days," are
longer than ordinary solar days, we must look to God's creation to
establish an accurate date for the length of the days and the age of the
earth. The age of the earth is most accurately established by examining
the age of its rocks, along with the age of rocks from the moon and
meteorites, which were formed around the same time. All these
measurements indicate that the earth is just over 4.5 billion years old.
Measurement of the ages of some of earth's features establish a minimum
age for those features that is in the hundred of thousands to millions
of years. Since most of the measurement merely involve the counting of
annual layers, they are unlikely to be grossly inaccurate. Therefore,
the young earth paradigm that the earth is merely 6,000 years old is
falsified by both the Bible and science. The vast ages of the earth does
not diminish the power and glory of God, but establishes that God
thought that preparing the earth for human habitation was
worth the
billions of years of
preparation. Since God is not subject to the temporal dimension of
this universe,48 it all happened "instantly"
for Him.

"But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of
the heavens, and let them tell you. "Or speak to the earth, and let it
teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. "Who among all
these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand
is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? "Does
not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? (Job 12:7-11)

Other Resources

Dr. Ross looks the creation date controversy from a biblical, historical,
and scientific perspective. Most of the book deals with what the Bible has
to say about the days of creation. Ross concludes that biblical models of
creation should be tested through the whole of scripture and the
revelations of nature.

This book, written for Christians, examines creation paradigms on the
basis of what scripture says. Many Christians assume that the young earth
"perfect paradise" paradigm is based upon what the Bible says. In reality,
the "perfect paradise" paradigm fails in its lack of biblical support and
also in its underlying assumptions that it forces upon a "Christian" worldview.
Under the "perfect paradise" paradigm, God is relegated to the position
of a poor designer, whose plans for the perfect creation are ruined by the
disobedience of Adam and Eve. God is forced to come up with "plan B," in
which He vindictively creates weeds, disease, carnivorous animals, and death
to get back at humanity for their sin. Young earth creationists inadvertently
buy into the atheistic worldview that suffering could not have been the
original intent of God, stating that the earth was created "for our pleasure."
However, the Bible says that God created carnivores, and that the death
of animals and plants was part of God's original design for the earth.

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 4a

...And there was evening, and there was morning—the
first day. (Genesis 1:5)
...And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
(Genesis 1:8)
And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
(Genesis 1:13)
And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
(Genesis 1:19)
And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
(Genesis 1:23)
...And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:31)

Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: a primitive root
Same Word by TWOT Number: 456

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
deshe דּשׁא (Strong's H1877)

grass, new grass, green herb, vegetation, young

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: from H1876
Same Word by TWOT Number: 456a

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
eseb עשׂב
(Strong's H6212)

herb, herbage, grass, green plants

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: from an unused root meaning to
glisten (or be green)
Same Word by TWOT Number: 1707a

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
peri פּרי
(Strong's H6529)

fruit

fruit, produce (of the ground)

fruit, offspring, children, progeny (of the womb)

fruit (of actions) (figuratively)

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: from H6509
Same Word by TWOT Number: 1809a

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
ets עץ
(Strong's H6086)

tree, wood, timber, stock, plank, stalk, stick, gallows

tree, trees

wood, pieces of wood, gallows, firewood, cedar-wood, woody flax

Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: from H6095
Same Word by TWOT Number: 1670a

Then the man said, "At last, here is one of my
own kind--- Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh.
'Woman' is her name because she was taken out of man." (Genesis
2:23)
Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:
pa‛am/pa‛ămâh (פּעמה/פּעם)
(Strong's H6471)

stroke, beat, foot, step, anvil, occurrence

foot, hoof-beat, footfall, footstep

anvil

occurrence, time, stroke, beat

one time, once, twice, thrice, as time on time, at this
repetition, this once,
now at length, now...now, at one time...at another

Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong's Number: from H6470
Same Word by TWOT Number: 1793a

"So the LORD'S anger burned against Israel, and
He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire
generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was
destroyed." (Numbers 32:13)
Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so
that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty
years. (Judges 13:1)

The creation declares the truth and
righteousness of God according to the Bible:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his
hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display
knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the
world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

"But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of
the heavens, and let them tell you. "Or speak to the earth, and let it
teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. "Who among all
these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand
is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? "Does
not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? (Job 12:7-11)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within
them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are
without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed
order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: "If this fixed
order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of
Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." (Jeremiah
31:35-36)

If we assumed that all of the minerals which are carried by rivers
into the oceans remains trapped in the oceans, then it would take 260
million years for the concentration of sodium to reach its present level
(assuming plankton, fish and plants do not adsorb sodium, which they do).
Sverdrup, H.U., Martin W. Johnson, and Richard H. Fleming, 1942.
The Oceans. Prentice Hall, Inc., New York, p. 219.

Huge stalactites, stalagmites, and columns (over 50 feet high and
over 30 feet in diameter) exist in the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. The
rate of deposition of minerals is such that the structures must be at
least 500,000 years old. There is no way to increase the rate of
deposition, since increasing the flow of water merely produces a waterfall
and decreasing the flow of water produces no deposition. (carlsbad.caverns.national-park.com)

Petit et al. 1999. Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from
the Vostok ice core, Antarctica. Nature 399: 429-436.

The coral reef at Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific Ocean has been
measured to have a thickness of up to 4,610 feet. Even the most
optimistic coral growth rates would require that the atoll be over 130,000
years of age.
H. S. Ladd, Earl Ingerson, Martin Russel, H. Kirk Stephenson and R.
C. Townsend. 1953. Drilling on Eniwetok atoll, Marshall islands.
AAPG Bulletin 37: 2257-2280.

Some bristlecone pine trees in California date
back to 2500 BC. But their tree rings have been matched with those
of dead trees; this shows that the latter germinated about 11,000
years ago.
Becker, B. and B. Kromer. 1993. The continental tree-ring
record—absolute chronology, 14C calibration and climatic change at
11 ka.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 103:
67–71.
Becker, B. 1993. An 11,000-Year German Oak And Pine Dendrochronology
For Radiocarbon Calibration. Radiocarbon 35: 201-213.